FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA IN ROME

-from President Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address in 1861:

“We are not enemies, but friends, We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break the bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

May we always hold close to our hearts the founding principles of our nation. May we rediscover our better angels. May our reconciliation with each other be our hearts’ desire, repairing the bonds of affection that make us better Americans together.

Father Bill +